7,000 cops fielded for Asean summit

By Fernan Marasigan
Reporter

IN addition to the more than three battalions of soldiers that will be deployed in Cebu  City, where the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit will be held in December, the National Police will field 7,000 personnel to secure delegates apparently in anticipation of terrorist attacks.
           
Director General Oscar Calderon, National Police chief, said these policemen have been given their respective tasks that include securing the arrival and departure of delegates.
           
While saying that there is no visible threat monitored, the National Police is not discounting the possibility that local and international terrorist groups might take advantage of the situation.
           
Apparently avoiding embarrassment from international community should terrorists manage to sabotage the summit, Calderon said the National Police and the Armed Forces are not taking any chances.
           
The military earlier said that besides the local and international terrorist group like the Asian terror group Jema’ah Islamiyah, it is not playing down the possibility that the communist New People’s Army will sabotage the summit.
           
As a result, the Armed Forces added two more battalions of soldiers to augment the battalion of battle-tested Marines already deployed in Cebu.
           
Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, chief of the Armed Forces public information office, said that the military will activate “Task Force Alalay” to support the National Police in the security preparations for the summit.
           
The task force is composed of three components—air, sea and land.
           
The air component will be led by the Air Forces’ Second Tactical Operations Wing, the sea component by Naval Forces Central and the land component by the Army’s 302nd Infantry Brigade.
           
Bacarro said that some of the troops will conduct patrol operations in the outskirts of Cebu while the Marines will establish checkpoints along major routes of the city.
           
“Maliban doon sa talagang naka-assign sa area, madadagdagan pa ito ng dalawang battalion, ito ay ang 46th Infantry Battalion na manggagaling sa Samar, at ang MBLT-7 [Marine Battalion Landing Team] na kararating lamang dito sa Metro Manila noong nakaraang linggo. Magkakaroon din ng CDM [Civil Disturbance Management] team na manggagaling sa Army at sa Air Force,” Bacarro said.
           
Earlier, Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan, Marine Corps spokesman, said the Marines deployed in the area are tasked to prevent terrorist attacks and their presence there “would give a sense of confidence to [summit] participants.”